Word: nacht
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Though numerous other examples of the CSIA's ties to government exist. Nacht and Doty are quick to point out that links between university-based research centers and specific policies are often difficult to identify. They nonetheless remain strong advocates of studying nuclear issues in an academic setting...
About 35 percent of all CSIA research fellows end up in Washington, some on congressional staffs, others in executive branches such as the Department of Defense. The center's associates director, Michael Nacht, points to the example of Steven Flanigan, a former research associate, who left the CSIA to join the staff of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee. That panel debated in 1979 whether the SALT II nuclear arms reduction treaty with the Soviets was sufficiently verifiable, concluding that it was not. The Senate never formally acted on the treaty after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and tensions between Moscow...
Regardless of temporary slow periods, Nacht says, "a tangible case can be made that CSIA personnel have had a fairly significant impact on government." Under President Jimmy Carter, associates of the center played a major role in shaping U.S. policy on matters of international security, energy and arms control...
...Individuals outside of government can study, write and speak about these subjects with greater objectivity than someone in Washington," says Nacht. "And even if you don't directly influence government policy, you probably raise the level of awareness of many groups." The latter accomplishment alone, he adds, "makes the whole undertaking worthwhile...
...Nacht believes that one of the center's major strengths lies in its political diversity: "We are viewed as quite dovish by the hawks and quite hawkish by the doves. And that, just as much as anything else, is what gives us our credibility...